How to Bet on Basketball

Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world with millions of fans watching and enjoying the sport. Even though the NBA is synonymous with basketball, it is only one league out of 65 around the world. Furthermore, just like the sports itself, betting on basketball is just as popular. Therefore, here is our basketball betting tutorial on How to Bet on Basketball and Win!

Like many other popular sports, sportsbooks offer a wide range of options to bet on basketball. This is because basketball can greatly increase the sports betting volume in a sportsbook.

Therefore, basketball offers many opportunities for gamblers and fans to make a profit from it. In addition, a typical basketball regular season will last from 5-6 months depending on the country. Thus, it is plenty of time for sports bettors to find statistics and patterns to help them win their bets.

How to Bet on Basketball – Basketball Betting Basics

How to read Basketball Betting Odds

Since this is a beginner’s basketball betting tutorial, we will only go over the basic types of basketball wagers. Thus, we will first go over how to read sports betting odds for basketball and how to bet on them. In this tutorial, we will use the American odds system as it is easy to understand and popular amongst bettors.

First off, typical Basketball Betting Odds will look like this. For this example, we will use a matchup between the Atlanta Hawks and the Miami Heat.

Team	Point Spread	Money Line	Total Points
Atlanta Hawks	-5.5 -110	-141 -110	O 203.5 -110
Miami Heat	+5.5 +110	+ 117 -110	U 203.5 -110

 

Reading basketball odds is simple as long as you understand the +/- system. The “-“, in front of the number means that the team is the favorite to win. Furthermore, sports betting odds can change without any notice because of several reasons.  Some of these reasons include, player injuries, rumors and public betting perception.

The second number is not always there, it is important because it is the commission the bookmaker charges. In this example, the commission is -110. This means that if you win the bet, the sportsbook will charge 10%.

In most cases, the basketball betting odds will usually show the three basic types of bets.  They are Point Spread betting, Money line Betting and Total points or over/under wagering.

How to Bet on the Most Popular Types of Basketball Bets

How to bet on the Basketball Point Spread

According to basketball forums, point spread betting is arguably the most popular way to bet on basketball. This type of bet is a form of handicapping to so the sportsbook does not lose money. For example, a gambler wants to Bet on Atlanta Hawks on the point spread.  Looking at the odds chart, to win his bet, Atlanta has to win by more than 5.5 points.

Betting on the Money Line

Betting on the basketball money line is very straightforward.  This is because you are betting on the team to win without a handicap. However, this type of bet is more costly if you bet on the favorite.  This is because the odds of the Hawks are high and most people will bet on them. Therefore, a sportsbook makes it more expensive to bet on them.  In this case, you have to bet $141 to win $100.

On the other hand, if you bet on the underdog the odds are more attractive and the profits higher. In this example, you bet $100 to win $117 on the Seoul Samsung Thunders.

Bet on the Basketball Totals

This type of bet is also known as betting on the basketball over/under.  This is because you are betting on whether the total score will go over or under a certain number. For those looking to become a basketball bookie, setting the correct odds is a must. This is because sharp bettors will be able to take advantage of incorrect odds and make a large profit from the sportsbook.

Now that you know thebasics on how to bet on basketball, its time to put the theory into practice with SportsBetting.ag and get a 50% Welcome Bonus!